On June 1, several hundred children, parents, neighbors and organizations came together at Garfield Park’s Little League Field for Chicago Westside Sports’ opening day of baseball.
After a 9 a.m. parade heading south on Central Park Ave., and an opening ceremony, the first pitch of the season was thrown at 10 a.m. to kick off the sixth year of the Chicago Westside Police and Youth Sports Conference.
The league brings together children from Austin, Garfield Park and North Lawndale with volunteer coaches in the form of police from the 10th, 11th, 15th and 25th Districts of the Chicago Police Department, plus leaders of faith-based and nonprofit organizations.
But the Chicago Westside Police and Youth Sports Conference is about more than just baseball.
Co-founders Stephanie Marquardt, Lieutenant Jermaine Harris of the 15th District and Pastor Steve Epting from Hope Church created Chicago Westside in 2018 to offer baseball, basketball and archery to children on the West Side. But participating children also gain mentorship and learn character building from local leaders.
“Our purpose is to create a vision that’s big enough so that all of our organizations, businesses, churches and block clubs can see themselves in it,” Epting said.
Of the over 60 adults involved, all are volunteers who give up to ten hours a week to coaching teams and organizing games, Marquardt said.
“That says a lot about the health of the community and the commitment to the kids and the neighborhoods and the blocks,” Marquardt said. “You create this really great community around the kids.”
At the baseball games, nonprofit organizations often bring resources to distribute, like groceries or a van for medical screenings.
“There’s relationships being built throughout this effort, and there are also resources being identified throughout this effort,” Epting said. “That’s what neighborhood is all about, us connecting in ways that we probably wouldn’t have if Westside Sports wasn’t in place.”
Chicago Westside Sports also offers free basketball leagues to approximately 500 participants annually and, in past years, archery lessons.
And its current baseball season continued June 2 as nearly 300 girls and boys in third through eighth grade played their first games of summer at Columbus Park, Franklin Park, Garfield Park, La Follette Park, Levin Park and Moore Park. On opening day June 1, there were also about 70 local vendors present and a peace march organized by Pastor Cy Fields.
“It really has turned into an all-West Side, all-organization, let’s come around the kids and build community kind of a day,” Marquardt said.